* View recent Twitter statuses from the people you follow (auto-refreshing)* View recent replies to you* View a specific user's timeline* Update your twitter status* View and respond to Direct Messages* Links will open in the user's default browser

Witty Code Specific Features:

* Minimize to the System Tray* Runs in Single Instance mode* Remembers the window settings for location and size* Responsive UI with asynchronous calls to Twitter to prevent UI thread from locking* Custom Styles and Resources* Custom TwitterLib for encapsulating calls to Twitter* Serialize to disk as XAML* Make use of Kevin Moore's FlipTile3D (easter egg)* Spell Checking* New messages are displayed with yellow fade technique* Option for always on top (Right-click the Witty Header)* Save and store application settings* Skins and Skinning

December 30, 2007

Vicito News make it easy to keep up with news relevant to you, no matter what source it comes from. It scans news from hundreds of unique sources all day. While doing this it checks for stories that match your search phrases. When it finds matching stories Vicito News IM you the links in batches as often as you choose. If you are signed out of your IM service, marked as away or do not disturb, it won't bother you with news updates. When you are available again, it will send you stories it has found for you.

Vicito News currently support 3 popular instant messaging services: Google Talk, AIM, and Windows Live Messenger.

Add a news bot to your instant messenger buddy list, send it the message help, and it will tell you how to get started :

All you have to do is to choose the folder where your avatars stored. After that this program automatically set these pictures as your display picture at a given period of time.

Messenger Pictures Auto Features :

# Change display picture automatically.# Browse all avatars for your contacts and copy what you want to imagesfolder directly.# Browse all NickNames for your contacts and copy what you want to clipboard.# It's free and available in many languages.# Very small size in comparison with other similar programs.(668 K

fring is mobile VoIP application enables you to make voice calls and chat with your buddies.

fring was supporting Skype, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Twitter. Now fring supports Yahoo Messenger and AIM support as well. Yahoo! & AIM are currently available for Symbian and UIQ handsets; voice calls are not yet enabled.

Note : You don’t need to upgrade your fring. It's enabled it on frşng servers, so all you need to do is to go to settings> services and add your service user name and password.

"In a presentation to the Georgia Institute of Technology's IEEE Student Branch yesterday, Microsoft employee and Georgia Tech (edit: graduate former student - Jenks went to work for MS before graduating) Andrew Jenks had some surprises in store. "It wasn't originally planned to be announced yesterday, but when he found out he was coming down (since this is his alma mater) he wanted to announce it", so instead of his planned talk on "Life and development at Microsoft", he spent the hour announcing a new Messenger API....Internal builds are already at WLM 9 and includes many of the API components. They have a team working on multi-person audio/video chat for WLM that may or may not be in 9, but should be in by 10. They are also trying to work out a way for WLM users to chat with AIM/GTalk/ICQ users like the way Yahoo! works now, and they have an internal version that works with GTalk already (but very basic)..."

December 26, 2007

I'm writing this post to help David Airey to take his domain name back from a hacker. This hacker stealed his Gmail account by inserting a filter in Gmail's setting and then he stealed his domain name. I advice you read the whole story and check your Gmail settings after that.

"What would you do if a criminal stole something very personal, and very valuable from you?

What if they were able to target your business and criple your income?

You wouldn’t be too happy now, would you?

What if you also discovered that this was happening because of a Google security infection that can affect every GMail user on the planet?

That’s what has just happened to me, and here I’m going to tell you my story. I will detail everything I know about the web pirates who are threatening my livelihood, and tell you what you need to know in order to avoid the same thing happening to you..."

"...People under 25 rarely use email. it’s all about getting an immediate response and short, to the point communication. They find it in Instant Messaging on a PC or via SMS (”texting”) on their cellphone instead.

But Instant Messaging (IM) is not just for kids and young adults. In fact, I think IM can be a pretty powerful tool for business to business sales professionals and small business owners as well.

December 25, 2007

"Everyone who has ever been online is familiar with emoticons. You know, those chubby little smiley faces and other cartoon-like characters that are usually found in e-mails, blog posts, instant messages and other online communication.

The smiley is easily the best known emoticon — think of him as the king of the emoticons. But the smiley is by no means on his own these days; there are now hundreds, or perhaps thousands of animated 3-D emoticons capable of expressing a staggering number of different feelings, activities, moods and states of mind..."

December 22, 2007

"Heading to the movies over the holidays? Then be sure to try out the new Yahoo! Movies trailer plug-in for Yahoo! Messenger (8.1 or 9.0 Beta). It’s been redesigned with some new features that make it the perfect tool for finding the next cinematic masterpiece.

Once you’ve added it to your Yahoo! Messenger, the Movie Trailers plug-in sits right down in the bottom of your Messenger window. You can use it to watch trailers from the latest films and with just a click, head over to Yahoo! Movies to find out when the movie is playing near you..."

December 21, 2007

YM-Online-Status is a WordPress plugin for Yahoo! Messenger users. It allows you show your blog visitors whether you are online or not using your own custom images as ‘buttons’. Normally you can only use the following standard buttons provided by Yahoo:

With this plugin, you can make the button yourself, ensuring your online status button looks nice on your blog’s theme and layout.

December 19, 2007

"I so want to hook this pen webcam to Skype video. The eTime Home Endoscope (EHE) works as a digital microscope. It includes light sources, close-up optics, accessories to help you channel light and insert the camera into tight places. The EHE retails for under US$90....Devices like this are important to the Skype economy. eBay sellers will give intimate tours of intricate products, like coins, jewelry and other collectibles. Engineers will be able to inspect devices for quality. Doctors will be able to inspect wounds..."

Windows Live Messenger MSN application lets you talk online and in real-time wity your MSN and WLM buddies inside Facebook! You can use it on any shared computer - at school, at work, at a friend’s house or anywhere you can’t install the Windows Live Messenger software.

"One of my favorite uses for Reader is to share interesting stuff with my friends. I click "Share" whenever I find an interesting item, be it hilarious or serious. This way, all my friends can subscribe to my shared items (and I to theirs), and we can easily see if a friend has found something interesting. This can be inconvenient, as I have to distribute my shared items link to my friends and vice-versa.

So, we've linked up Reader with Google Talk (also known as chat in Gmail) to make your shared items visible to your friends from Google Talk. Once you've logged into Reader and been notified of the change, these friends will be able to see your shared items in the Reader left-hand navigation area under "Friends' shared items.."

December 16, 2007

Simkl allows you automatically save all of your important IM conversations on a secured web server, the same way you save your e-mails. Simkl does not ask you to install any software, so no viruses or adware ever. You just need to sign up and you will have easy access to your IM conversations from any computer.

December 15, 2007

"The USB MSN Missile Launcher, as the product is called, from Dream Cheeky has been co-developed with Microsoft to create an added user experience.

This launcher comes with a detachable video camera and a software that allows you to communicate via Microsoft’s MSN Messenger instant messaging client. Simply invite your buddies to play and they can control your launcher remotely from any location in the world..."

December 14, 2007

"Bringing more immediacy to Facebook apps from BuddyMedia, (fluff)Friends, RockYou, Slide, The Broth and the WaterCooler, Web-based instant messaging startup Meebo is now letting Facebook developers add chat to their apps through a new partner program. Basically, these are versions of Meebo Rooms inside Facebook that can be customized and skinned any way the app developer wants. They integrate with Facebook’s registration system (no Meebo account required), include traffic and advertising tracking, and automatically create new overspill chat rooms when one fills to capacity..."

December 13, 2007

"Maybe this is commonplace for others, but I've just got my first sex-chat-spam on Skype. It's from someone called Veronica Sexy, whose profile indicates that it's unlikely to be someone I've met and just forgotten about (as if I would):

"can't wait to get real nasty and show off :) IM REAL MISS WEB CAM!"

Reply to the message and immediately you're asked to share your contact details (a la Skype.) I didn't risk having Veronica spam all my friends (not sure how that would work, but I've got some nice people on my list, and I'd hate for them to be upset.) But I did reply to her message, and her responses were quick, and, dare I say it, felt a trifle automated:"

"It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…Yahoo! Messenger from 30,000 feet! Today marks the official launch of a customized version of Yahoo! Messenger for JetBlue passengers.

Internet access on commercial flights is a new concept, and JetBlue is the first domestic carrier to test it with their new BetaBlue airplane. Passengers with WiFi-enabled laptops or Blackberry devices on the plane can connect for free to the on-board wireless network. Once connected, they can communicate with friends, family and colleagues on the ground using customized versions of both Yahoo! Messenger for the Web and Yahoo! Mail..."

December 12, 2007

Phil Holden reported a new version of Windows Live Messenger is available for almost all phones, by accessing MSN Mobile, for both WAP 1.x and WAP 2.x phones. When you hit the service from your phone MSN Mobile detect your device capabilities and route you to the correct version.

New Features of MSN Mobile :

* Rich emoticons support* The ability to view and manage up to five active conversations* Customers can change the display names, status etc* Full access to your Live Contacts, still my favorite live service* Search your contacts, hide offline contacts etc

December 10, 2007

"Whenever you start Skype, which loads the process Skype.exe, another process named skypePM.exe is loaded. SkypePM.exe is the Plugin Manager of Skype that is always loaded during the start of Skype even if you are not using a single plugin in Skype. This is not really efficient considering that this process uses 15+ Megabytes of RAM for doing nothing at all.

There is however an easy way to get rid of the plugin manager process skypePM.exe..."

The new version 4.50 of the famous Windows Live Messenger patch - Messenger Plus! Live is now supporting Windows Live Messenger 9.0 Beta.

This version has a brand new feature: Messenger skinning! This new feature allows skins to be applied directly in the memory of Messenger. No file is changed, several skins can be installed and each of them is safe to use: no more installation or update problems caused by hard-patched skins. Installation of new skins is very easy: download a Skin Pack, click on it and press Import. The same distribution method used for scripts is used for skins.

December 09, 2007

Fizzboost is Facebook Notifier tool which allows you get notifications and chat with your online friends instantly.

FizzBoost is constantly being upgraded and improved to make use of all the functionality that Facebook provides through its open API. It is easy to use and intuitive. Its small download size and compact alert system ensures that no clutter is added to your desktop.

Fizzboost Features :

* Instant Live Chat - See when your Friends are online and Chat to them instantly!* Notifications of Friend, Group and Event Invites.* Notifications of Pokes, Unread Mail and Unread Shares.* The ability to view your friends with convenient shortcuts to Message, Poke, View Profile.* Notifications of Wall Posts.* View Friend Photo Albums from within FizzBoost.* Upload Photos to Albums and Create Albums from within FizzBoost.* Nifty Event Viewer* View Facebook Feeds directly in FizzBoost!* Update your status directly in FizzBoost without having to go to your Profile Page* FizzBoost now has Sounds! Use the default or use your own custom sound* Twitter Status Updates You can now sync your Status between Facebook and Twitter

December 08, 2007

MSN Messenger Button Application for Facebook allows you put an "Add To MSN Messenger" button on your profile so your friends can add you to their MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger) with a simple click.

December 07, 2007

This PDF document about Skype from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning.Read more about this document | Download PDF directly

December 06, 2007

"Did you know there is an extra hidden tab in Windows Live Messenger Option dialog box? Its called “Add-ins“. I don’t know why its hidden by default? Today I found a registry hack to enable it in WLM while playing with WLM’s EXE file in Resource Hacker."

Mumble is a voice chat application for groups. While it can be used for any kind of activity, it is primarily intended for gaming. Mumble works with all games as a regular voice chat application.

Mumble has very low latency combined with good sound quality; it uses Speex extensively, not just the voice compression technology, but also the voice preprocessing to remove noise and improve clarity.

Mumble also has positional audio for supported games, meaning the other players' voice will come from the direction their character is in game.

This is a preview version only (pre-beta) so not everything is in here that you might be used to seeing in other versions of Yahoo! Messenger.

Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Features:

- Entirely new interface that harnesses the power of WPF, the graphics subsystem in Windows Vista- Organize your conversations into tabs, or drag and drop a tab out to create a new window- Keep up with your favorite contacts by dragging them into the Windows Sidebar gadget- Send enhanced emoticons that have some extra oomph- Change the color of your IM windows with a built-in skin chooser. Go crazy with a different skin for every IM window!- Adjust the display size of your contacts with a handy slider- Arrange your contact list into multiple columns just by resizing your window- Send instant messages to your Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts- Send files to friends as large as 2 GB- Find contacts quickly with the contact search bar. Type in a few letters of the contact’s name or ID and they’ll come up in filtered results.- As-you-type spell checker that’s smart enough to know that “LOL” is not something to correct- A preferences menu you can access by right-clicking anywhere at the top of the main Messenger window

December 05, 2007

Gmail chat users now have the option to sign in to their AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) account to chat with their AIM buddies from Gmail.

AIM buddies will populate you contacts list, and are searchable just like your Google Talk contacts.

To start chatting with your AIM buddies just click on a name in your chat list, and start typing.

Note that an AIM account is required to use this feature. AIM in Gmail is not a Google Talk and AIM federation; it's the ability to sign in to your AIM messaging account from Gmail. Gmail uses Open AIM to provide this feature.